My Apartment

This is my new apartment.

You need exercise?

In front of elevator.....

In the hallway......

The door from outside.

In the laundry

Anyway the hallway once more.

My bedroom

My desk and chair

My closet

In the kitchen

Again the door from inside

The light in my room

A Morning in Milwaukee

In the dark night.....

A foggy night in Milwaukee. According to a taxi driver, after raining it is foggy there.

Good morning! It is raining.....

Departure for the US

At a business hotel in Hotarugaike.....

By the window.....

My ex-school, Osaka University, is over there.

At Narita Airport.....

At Narita, how long do I have to be waiting.....?

It looks good. In fact it's not bad.

From Atlanta to Milwaukee.....

At last I am in Milwaukee.

Taro In Milwaukee

At last I arrived at Milwaukee. I became a UWM grad student. My new life will start here! It' s a very long trip to Milwaukee. In the plane the seat for the economy-class was so small that I couldn't sleep well. However I recovered from tiredness.

Sorry I couldn't update my blog. I have to prepare for new life in Milwaukee for a while. So I won' t be able to update it again.

Milwaukee, which many Japanese don't know, is a nice city. The houses and building are so cute that Japanese women might like them. And the Lake Michigan is very beautiful when the weather is fine. I walk along the lake. It looks very large and looks like sea. It makes me relax for a while. It is the best place for trip, I think.

Recently the research on trip has been booming in economics. Some economists may think of it as what the economists who are poor at math would study. But I don't think so. It is a prospective research area in economics, I guess.

Anyway I took many pictures in Milwaukee and I will release them here.

I'm busy looking for the stores where I buy stuff necessary for my new life. It is a little difficult for me to buy something in the store. Yesterday I bought clothes and shoes at Wal-Mart. It is far from my apartment. There I didn't understand how many kinds of coin I had and the prices.

Moreover I couldn't take a bus. So I was lost in the city. Then I was helped to go home by a UWM student that I met in the store. It was a late night. Remembering it, it seems to have been a little dangerous. I couldn't make a phone call, either. I didn't know how to insert coins into the phone. I was also helped to make a call by a UWM student studying in the library. Anyway the first life in Milwaukee looks hard for me.

Colder Wisconsin

In Japan it is very hot! I'm going to Wisconsin on Aug. 21. In Wisconsin, it is less hotter than in Japan.The date is coming. Good bye, Japan!

Outsourcing and Mobile Phone

I had a drinking meeting yesterday with two persons who helped and now help me with my grad study. I was so happy that I had such a good time because in a week I'm leaving for the US. It was a good memory to have with me in Japan.

There we discussed the issues about outsourcing. In the US the topic of outsourcing was a controversial issue a little while ago. According to one of us, in Japan many people are suffering from outsourcing; Outsourcing of services in any field in the business society in Japan will exploit many workers, while many of the Japanese benefit from it. About one third of the workers in Japan are now part-time(including me), not full-time, and most of them are exploited by rich capitalists. It seems to be a modern version of Marxism, but, he says, it is the present situation, in most of the developing countries. And now Japan seems to be becoming extremely developing countries. If so, what is going wrong?

Many economists say that the market economy will do well and that outsourcing is a clear proof of a well-functioning free market economy. But, he says, it might be very easy for them to say such a thing because they can say that free market will go well without deep consideration. Certainly it might be also easy to say that the market economy will go wrong because it tends to divide them between rich and poor, and at the same time, easy to say that the free market will do well because it tends to make them rich on average. I think he wanted to say that we should seriously doubt whether a free market and outsourcing will really bring a better condition for many people. It is a good question and we have not answered it yet though we have discussed it many times before. Now is the time we should doubt the neoclassical optimistic version of free market and the night-watch state, or a small government.

By the way, most of us have a mobile phone. I think we can see it as a result of the working of free market economy. Many of them are always emailing everywhere in the town by mobile phone rather than talking directly without care for the people around them. One of us saw couples there emailing without talking with each other, and he said, "what are they happy with each other about?" And I wondered also. Seeing them emailing without saying a word, I said to him, "many of them have a contact with each other when they want to. And it is the way the issue of outsourcing is". Then he asked me to explain more why I thought so. I mean, they outsource when they want to. And when they don't want to, they don't.

When employers don't need workers, they don't want to outsource and in many cases fire them at present without care for their living. When they don't need to employ, they want to fire and actually do so. It seems to be like the way they use a mobile phone; When they want to have a contact, they do so, while they cut off the contact when they don't want to. In terms of having a short and temporary relationship, they have much in common, I guess. I might be able to call it "the culture of the mobile phone" and it may be one of the products of a free market in our capitalist society.

(My native English teacher has checked this essay.)

Make Sure of Economic Growth

The benefits of economic improvement have not trickled down to workers, while additional concerns are being raised about expanding income disparities. An annual white paper released Friday by the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry tells the story:

White paper warns over wages / Says more corporate earnings should be distributed through pay hikes
The Yomiuri Shimbun
The white paper, analyzing labor-related economic issues, considers it problematic that healthy corporate performance did not result in corresponding wage rises.

.....The findings recognized a continued improvement in the employment situation. However, the report also raised concerns over income disparities.
According to the report, consumption by the average working household is not robust enough, while the findings on how households spend money on items such as education and housing show increasingly diverging spending patterns depending on income.

The paper came up with three main reasons for the expanding spending gaps:
-- An increasing number of lowly paid workers in nonregular employment.
-- Income gaps among those engaged in regular employment due to the introduction of performance-based pay and similar systems.
-- The advancing polarization of long and short working hours due to the expansion of the discretionary working-hour system.

.....Noting the considerable changes in society, the paper said it was inevitable the unfair distribution of economic growth would be subject to a drastic review.
As for long working hours, the report also pointed out that due to the spread of the self-governing working style, it has become more difficult for companies to figure out the work their employees are doing, resulting in certain people working longer hours. (Aug. 4, 2007)

In Japan it is said that the income gap is being widened among workers. As in the US, many Japanese people are afraid that Japan will become an inequal society. The above report says such a thing for many of them. Thought the report makes it clear why the benefit of economic growth doesn't seem to widespread among the workers, I think there exists another reason for it. But I don't know about it.

日本の教育

04/15/08加筆修正

「学歴詐称」職員　横浜市７００人に
8月3日8時0分配信 産経新聞

　ごみ収集などに携わっている横浜市の職員約７００人が、大学や短大を卒業しているのに「高校卒業」などと偽り採用されたと自己申告していたことが分かり、横浜市が２日、発表した。自己申告のため詐称かどうか判断できないケースも含まれ、実際の学歴詐称は５００人程度になる見込みという。　大阪市などで発覚した学歴詐称問題を受け、同様の職員がいるとの情報が寄せられたため、横浜市が調査。７月中に自己申告した場合は１カ月の停職処分、８月１日以降に発覚した場合は懲戒免職とする方針を打ち出して調査した。　調査は、受験資格を高卒までと限定しているバスの運転手やごみ収集に携わる職員、学校給食の調理員などの技能職員８１６７人が対象。申告者が多かったのは交通局２２０人、教育委員会１９０人、資源循環局１００人、水道局７０人などで、３１局区にまたがった。

この事件は実は大阪市でも問題になった。就職難で仕方なく、学歴を詐称して、職に就いたというある種の「悲劇」である。大学を卒業しているのに、高卒として採用されたことが社会問題となった。

しかしながら、私は学歴詐称をした張本人とそれを知っていた市当局だけの問題ではなく、大学人、教育者の問題でもあろう。

さて、「大学は出たけれど・・・」というコピーは丁度昭和恐慌の頃から言われていた。東北の貧しい農村では娘が遊郭へ売られ、この発端となった金輸出解禁（これは相対的な円の価値を高騰させ、日本の産業に打撃を与えた）に業を煮やした青年将校は、井上準之助、浜口雄幸ら重要閣僚の暗殺を企てた。

しかし、今ほどセーフティーネット、社会保障が充実している中でも、「大学は出たけれど・・・」というコピーが通用する。もちろん、日本が不況にあえぎ、就職難で仕方なく不本意な企業に入り、やりがいも見出せず飯を食うためのサラリーマン生活を送っている人は大勢いよう。また、それが嫌で夢を追っかけフリーター生活を送る（私のような人）人も大勢いよう。

大学という最高学府を出たのであるなら、出たなりの価値ある就職をしなければならないし、その努力を怠ってはならない。何も大企業に就職することだけが、価値あることではないだろう。また一方で、重大な局面で何とかしようとするのも大学を出た人間に求められよう。

どこも雇ってくれないのなら、自分で仕事を作るしかないだろう。セルフエンプロイメント（自己採用）である。

そもそも、働くことや生きること全般を含めた職業意識は教育により育まれようし、教育は人を変える力があると信じている。教育は自分とその周辺の人を変える機会であり、そして何よりも豊かな人生を送る糧を提供するものである。目には見えないが、大切なものである。

今の日本の学校は生徒の個性を育てるとは言うものの、実際は生徒に無意味な大学「入学」訓練をほどこしている。実にくだらないことに時間とエネルギーを投下しているのである。確かに、受験教育もいいところはあろう。短期間に集中的に科目習得するには「詰め込み」受験勉強式にやるのか手っ取り早い。

本来は、受験「競争」という「競争原理」が問題なのでなく、受験教育という「中身」を問うべきではないか？もう少し実社会に根付いた教育訓練もあっていい。インターンシップはいい試みのひとつである。

上記の一件は、日本の教育が本当の意味で、人を育てるという意味で機能していないことの証左ではなかろうか？意外に深刻な一面をはらんでいるといえよう。

Comfort Women System

I don't want to talk much about, what is called, the comfort women system under the Imperial Japanese Army during the WWⅡ. But today I'll post a little comment on it.

In conclusion it is a sad history. But I don't know whether the military prostitution was forced by the Imperial Japanese Army or not. First of all it should be clear whether it is a fact or not. And it's a historian's task, not a lawmaker's task, I think.

'Comfort women' vote passes
Aya Igarashi Yomiuri Shimbun Correspondent
....The U.S. House of Representatives approved a resolution Monday calling for a formal apology from Japan over the "comfort women system of forced military prostitution" by the Imperial Japanese Army before and during World War II, dealing a fresh blow to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The resolution over the issue is the first to be passed during a regular House session. Though the resolution is not legally binding, its passage is a setback for the Abe administration, after his ruling coalition suffered a crushing defeat in Sunday's House of Councillors election.

Describing the "comfort women system of forced military prostitution by the Government of Japan" from the 1930s to the end of World War II as "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century," the resolution demands a formal, unambiguous apology from Japan and a thorough review of the nation's history education.

The resolution was submitted in January by Japanese-American lawmaker Mike Honda, D-Calif., who led lawmakers denouncing Japan over the issue. On June 26, it was overwhelmingly approved by a 39-2 vote of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the U.S. Congress. On Monday, the resolution was cosponsored by 167 lawmakers, out of a total of 435 in the House.
During his first visit to the United States as prime minister in April, Abe offered an apology to former comfort women at a meeting with U.S. President George W. Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and other congressional leaders. (Aug. 1, 2007)

I won't want to say such a thing, but if you want to say the comfort system as "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century", you have to say the dropping atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and especially the air raids in Tokyo and Osaka are also "one of the largest cases of human trafficking in the 20th century".

I do not think that the Japanese lawmakers should submit the resolutions in the same manner over the indiscriminate bombing by the US Army during WWⅡ, but in some case they might have to do it. Who thinks of it as the best way to solve the problems lying behind our history?

Does a formal apology comfort the victims of the comfort system? In fact the Japanese government and ex-Prime Minister Tomiichi Murakama（村山富市）have officially expressed an apology to the victims of the attacks and invasion of the past Japanese Army.

What I want to say is that other nation's lawmakers should not talk about foreign country's way of the history education and the revision of it. Hearing the news, I began to wonder what the real aim of the resolution they submitted over the past comfort system was. I'm doubtful whether they really want the Japanese government to offer a apology. They might have another aim of the resolution, I guess. However, I don't want to know the truth and feel like leaving it well enough alone because it is submitted in the US Congress.

Differential Equations in Our Life

10/17/08 Revised

Differential equations - easy to hear but often impossible to solve- are around there in our life. If you are an econ learner, you have much time to express the economy by using differential equations. Especially in economic growth theory (if you want the examples, see Barro & Sala-i-Martin, Economic Growth, 2th edition, MIT Press), we use many differential equations.

However, we can also use them to express the things around our life other than tedious economic growth theory. The differential equations that are used to express them could usually be relatively easy to solve. Let me show you some examples:

［1］ Memory

In 1885, Hermann Ebbinghaus discovered the exponential nature of forgetting. The following formula can roughly describe the forgetting:

R(t)=R(0)exp(-λt)

where R(0) is an initial condition.

As time goes by, we lose some of our memory. The fraction of what we forget is called a forgetting rate λ. Our memory level at period t is R(t). The amount we forget can be expressed by our memory times λ, that is, λR(t). So we can show how we forget by using the following formula:

dR(t)/dt = -λR(t) .....(1)

The formula (1) means that we lose the fraction of our memory λR(t) as time goes by. How we get the memory function R(t) is as follows:

Step1, dR(t)/dt/R(t) =-λ .....(2)

Step2, (1/R(t)) dR(t) = -λdt .....(3)

Step3, lnR(t)=-λt+C .....(4)

where ln is a natural logarithm and C is a constant. Note that dlnR(t)/dR(t) = 1/R(t).

Finally R(t)=R(o)exp(-λt) where R(0)=exp(C). .....(5)

Note that R(t) = exp(-λt+C). Our memory can be expressed by the first-order autonomous differential equation. Other examples are:

［2］Bathtub and running water

Assume we have a bathtub full of water with the area of the base, S. Once we put off the stopper, the water begins to run out. We can see the change of the water level of bathtub by using differential equations.

Let a the water level of bathtub at the first period, y(t) the water level at period t, and V(t) the amount of the water at period t. Then we can express the speed of running water as dV(t)/dt. This is proportional to the depth of bathtub, y(t).

dV(t)/dt =-ky(t) .....(6)

where k is a constant.

At this time we have to notice that V(t)=S×y(t).

dV(t)/dt = S×dy(t)/dt .....(7)

Substituting the formula (6) for (7),

-ky(t)= S×dy(t)/dt .....(8)

Manipulating the formula (8),

(1/y(t))dy(t) = -k/s dt .....(9)

And integrating the formula (9),

ln(y(t)/a) = -(k/S)t, and

y(t)=a×exp［(-k/S)t］.....(10)

The water level of our bathtub can be expressed by the function of t.

［3］ Population growth

N(t) is the population level at period t, n is the population growth rate (Here n is assumed constant. ) and N(0) is an initial condition.

The rate of change of population is the rate of the derivative of N(t) with respect to N(t) to the level, N(t):

dN(t)/dt = n×N(t) .....(11)

And then, (1/N(t)) dN(t) = ndt.

Thus, ln N(t) = nt +C .....(12)

where C is a constant.

N(t) = N(0)exp(nt) .....(13)

where N(0) is an initial condition and N(0) = expC. The population growth is expressed by the formula (13).

By the way, Robert Malthus was an English political economist best known for his highly influential views on population growth. His Principle of Population was based on the above idea: if population grows at a geometric rate whereas the food supply grows at an arithmetic rate the population growth will make us very poor. This is a very famous prediction.

［4］ Hot coffee
A hot coffee left in the restroom is getting colder as time goes by. Newton's law of cooling states that the speed of cooling of a hot coffee at period t is proportional to the difference in temperatures between the coffee and its surrounding.

According to the law, dF(t)/dt = -λF(t) .....(14)

where F(t) is the t-period difference in temperatures between the coffee and its surrounding and λ is a constant.

At period 0, the difference is F(0). And then,

F(t)=F(0)exp(-λt) .....(15)

The temperature in your room is 26℃.And the temperature of your coffee is 63℃. In 20 minutes your coffee is at 45℃. If you left your coffee in your room and t minutes passed, at what temperature would it be?

Using the formula F(0) = 63℃-26℃=37℃,

F(t) = 37×exp(-kt) .....(16)

and using F(20) =19,

37×exp(-kt) = 19 .....(17),

and exp(-k) = (19/37)^(1/20) = 0.967.....

Finally,

F(t) = 37×(0.967)^t .....(18)

According to the formula (18), in t minutes your coffee would be at about (26+37×0.967^t)℃. The change of the temperature of your coffee can be expressed by the first-order differential equation.

The above equations are all similar with each other. We can see that many things in our life can be expressed by differential equations. If you know another example of what seems to be expressed by differential equations, please let me know! (The photos are all from Wikipedia.)

Next Abe

The Liberal Democratic Party(LDP) suffered a crushing defeat Sunday in the election for the upper house of Parliament. The Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed that he would not step down.(The photo is from the New York Times.)

Here's the excerpt:

The New York Times
TOKYO, Monday, July 30
Toshiyuki Aizawa/Bloomberg News

....The main opposition Democratic Party seized control of the upper house by a landslide, capturing seats not only in cities but also in rural districts that had long been strongholds of the Liberal Democratic Party. The rout was widespread, with household names in the governing party falling one after another before opposition newcomers. It could also stall Tokyo’s moves toward a more assertive foreign policy and active military.

....Using parliamentary majorities he had inherited from his popular predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, Mr. Abe rammed through laws to instill patriotism in schools, elevate the status of Japan’s military and prepare for a referendum on revising the pacifist Constitution. The drubbing was not a rejection of Mr. Abe’s nationalist goals but a notice that they came after the economy and competent leadership in importance.

...The Democratic Party has been critical of Mr. Abe’s tendency to revise Japan’s wartime past and wary of the strengthening of the Japanese military, initiatives that were led by conservatives in Mr. Abe’s party and encouraged by the United States. The opposition opposed the deployment of Japanese troops to Iraq.

Mr. Abe seems to be thought that he is hawkish and aggressive. I do not think that he wants to begin fighting with another countries. He is haunted by such a strongly conservative image. And the above article seems to misunderstand the Democratic Party. I know that the parties which are critical of Mr.Abe's conservative-looking policy are mainly the Communist Party of Japan and the Social Democratic Party, which are relatively small in size and left-leaning.

The Democratic Party has been said that it is similar with LDP in political position. It is because some members of the Democratic Party come from LDP and its president Mr.Ozawa also comes from LDP.

....Under Japanese law, the lower house of Parliament, which Mr. Abe’s party controls, chooses prime ministers. So a loss in the upper house will not immediately force his resignation.

Mr. Abe’s political standing has suffered through a series of scandals in his administration: his gaffe-prone defense minister was forced to resign this month after making comments apparently justifying the United States’ use of atomic bombs against Japan during World War II. Mr. Abe’s first agricultural minister hanged himself in May, after being accused of corruption.

Mr. Abe’s approval ratings, once higher than 60 percent, plummeted as he appeared out of touch with voters’ anxieties about everyday issues, especially government mishandling of national pension records that could jeopardize the benefits paid in what is a rapidly aging society. Instead, Mr. Abe pursued a nationalist agenda, saying until recently that the election’s main theme was revising Japan’s pacifist Constitution and repeating his trademark, if vague, promise of turning Japan into “a beautiful country.”

In sum, I want to support Mr.Abe and I think he should fulfill his duties. Many Japanese people are also doubtful of the possibility of the Democratic Party. Because it seems to have badly organized statements and lack in coherence; They have a wide variety of members from moderate socialists to conservatives. It is sometimes a good point, but other times a bad point; They are more likely to divide when they face and tackle some important problems of political issues like revising the Constitution of Japan. It will lead to a serious blank in government.

Why did many of them vote the Democratic Party? The reason is clear: They have no other party to vote. Mr. Abe certainly made some mistakes in electing members of his administration. He should have tried to fire them when they had some problems that would fear his political standing.

Many of the Japanese people don't necessarily disagree with Mr.Abe. Some policies which he's pursued seem better: For example, in economic issue, he wants to make everyone happy with the economic recovery by clearing the pension plan and the tax system. Anyway, this is the time when we have to choose to keep an eye on what he will do next. I hope he will do better.

The Greats of Modern Japanese History

If you want to know about the greats of modern Japanese history, see it!!

近代日本人の肖像

いいサイトです。日本人必見！！

Price Hike in the McDonald

The proportion of McDonald's restaurants that have raised their menu prices under McDonald's Holdings Co.'s introduction of region-based pricing has risen to more than 60 percent of the total number in Japan.

Having considered the income gap between the urban and rural region, McDonald's Holdings Co. introduced region-based pricing. The pricing policy is very important for a big company such as McDonald to implement. Why have more than 60 percent of McDonald's restaurants raised their prices? It's the problem. Does it indicate that the Japanese economy as a whole has become better?

More McDonald's restaurants raising menu prices under region-based pricing system

The number of McDonald's restaurants that have lowered their menu prices under the region-based pricing systems stands at 130, the same as the originally planned number. However, the number of restaurants that have raised their menu prices has reached about 2,400 -- nearly double the original planned number of 1,255 restaurants.

The new pricing system means that the price difference of some menu items is as high as 90 yen depending on the restaurant. (Mainichi)
Click here for the original Japanese story
July 26, 2007

Thinktanks In The US

The thinktanks in the US are as follows:

AAAS R&D Budget and Policy Project
American Civil Liberties Union
American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research
Asia/Pacific Research Center
The Aspen Institute
The Arms Control Association
The Atlas Economic Research Foundation
The James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy
Benton Foundation
Berkley Roundtable on the International Economy
Brookings Institution
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
The Carter Center
Cato Institute
Center for Defense Information
Center for Democracy and Technology
Center for International Security and Cooperation
Center for National Policy
Center for Nonproliferation Studies
Center for Public Integrity
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
The Century Foundation
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Council on Competitiveness
Council for Excellence in Government
Council on Foreign Relations
Demos: A Network for Ideas & Action
East-West Center
Economic Strategy Institute
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Electronic Privacy Information Center
Federation of American Scientists
Foreign Policy Institute (FPI)
Foreign Policy Research Institute
Global Environment and Trade Study
The Henry L. Stimson Center
Heritage Foundation
Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace
Hudson Institute
Institute for Defense Analysis
Institute for International Economics
Institute for International Studies
Institute for National Strategic Studies
Institute for Policy Innovation
International Institute for Strategic Studies
The Levy Economics Institute of Bard College
Miller Center of Public Affairs
National Academies
National Bureau of Asian Research
National Bureau of Economic Research
National Endowment for Democracy
National Institute for Public Policy
Nautilus Institute for Security and Sustainability
Nixon Center
Pew Research Center for the People and the Press
PollingReport.com
Progressive Policy Institute
Public Agenda
Rand
The Strategic Studies Institute
United States Institute of Peace
Urban Institute
Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars
World Resources Institute
Worldwatch Institute

What Should Japan Do First?

Recently I've read the book titled "Toward a Beautiful Country（「美しい国へ」）", which is written by the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe. The book is written in plain Japanese and we can know easily about Mr. Abe's view on the modern history of Japan and what Japan should be and do from now on. I enjoy it and I like it. (As far as I know, the book hasn't been translated into English.)

By the way, it is said that Mr. Abe is so hawkish that he wants to revise peaceful Constitution of Japan. Some people say that Mr. Abe wants Japan to have a powerful military power and a potential ability to fight with another country. Especially China, ROK and other Asian countries seem to have such a doubt on the Mr. Abe's intention of revising the Constitution of Japan and his patriotic statements. Certainly he wants to revise the Constitution of Japan, but it is not from as an ambitious intention as the past Japan had, but from a forward-looking approach to the Asian countries.

Japan once proceeded into an ambitious militarism and as a result invaded China, Korea and many other Asian countries. The atrocity of militaristic Japan finally gives birth to an unforgettable tragedy in our history. Mr. Abe knows it and, of course, he does not intend to do it again.

It is not easy to cure the injured in the history of war. Many people in the Asian countries may hope Japan to compensate themselves for its past aggression and vandalism. I don't think it will cure them completely by doing it. All we can do is that we hope that we'll overcome the history of tragedy and build a peaceful and affluent friendship with the Asian countries. For Japan to do so, Mr. Abe should explain to the countries who cast a doubt on the recent mood of patriotism in Japan what Japan will do and should do and show them that Japan is now a peaceful, politically and religiously free and democratic country.

I think Japan is not well understood in many other Asian countries.One of the reasons may be that Japan failed to explain its idea to them; The ordinary Japanese people tend to express so moderately their feeling and idea and might be usually misunderstood by the people around them. This is a kind of tragedy that the Japanese people have in origin. Such a mentality might be cast on the modern foreign policy of Japan. If so, we have to change it and explain to our friends what we will do. That's what Japan should do first in our foreign policy. And Mr. Abe is going to do it, I think. (I would like Mr. Abe to have his book translated into English to have many people all over the world read it.)

Mr. Miyamoto Died At 98

Kenji Miyamoto, former presidium chairman of the Japan Communist Party's Central Committee, died Wednesday.


The Yomiuri Shimbun
Miyamoto was born in 1908 as the first son of a merchant family in Yamaguchi Prefecture. While a student at Tokyo Imperial University, he won first prize in an essay contest sponsored by Kaizo magazine, leaving Hideo Kobayashi (1902-83) to place second. His essay, titled "Haiboku-no Bungaku" (The Literature of The Defeated), focused on novelist Ryunosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927), and earned Miyamoto a reputation in the literary world.

...In 1933, Miyamoto was arrested for violation of the prewar Peace Preservation Law and remained in prison until the end of World War II in 1945. During his imprisonment, Miyamoto refused to renounce his communist beliefs.
The JCP's official history states: "After his arrest, Kenji Miyamoto never succumbed to barbarous torture and adhered to the party's policy. He maintained complete silence during his roughly seven years in captivity, which led to the start of hearings in his trial. During his trial, Miyamoto continued to fight [the authorities]."

....What earned Miyamato a great deal of attention was his policy of independence. In 1991, he issued a statement concerning the dissolution in that year of the Soviet Communist Party. The statement said the JCP "welcomes the end of a historical great evil marked by great-power ambition and hegemonism."


The fall of the Soviet Communist Party was followed by a decline in the power of other communist parties in the world, demonstrated by changes in their names. The JCP's success in surviving as a political party amid a decline in communism can be partly attributed to the JCP's adherence to its policy of independence.


....The JCP has rewritten the wording of its platform to fit the changes of the times, hoping to pursue a practical and flexible policy line. However, the JCP's basic philosophy and makeup, nurtured during the days of Miyamoto's leadership, remains unchanged.
(Jul. 19, 2007)

Mainich
Former Japanese Communist Party leader Kenji Miyamoto died of old age at a hospital in Tokyo on Wednesday, party sources said. He was 98.
After becoming the party's secretary-general in 1958, Miyamoto promoted having a majority in the Diet through peaceful means and independence from foreign communist parties. He resigned from official activities in 1997.

....Miyamoto was arrested at the end of 1933 over the death of a party member and imprisoned until October 1945.
On the international front, Miyamoto and his party acted independently from the former Soviet Union's communist party and Chinese Communist Party.
When the communist regime collapsed in the Soviet Union and eastern Europe in the late 20th century, Miyamoto said that Soviet Union-style socialism had been defeated, but added that the Japanese Communist Party was different.
(July 18, 2007)

Some readers of Taro's blog might be surprised at there being a communist party in Japan. However, JCP demonstrates us that it is different from other communist parties such as the Soviet and Chinese Communist Party.

The Yomiuri News has more detailed comment on Mr. Miyamoto and his JCP. According to the Yomiuri, the JCP's success in surviving as a political party can be partly attributed to the JCP's adherence to its policy of independence.

JCP seems to pursue its original communist ideology. Is it what is called a communist from an orthodox communist view? I don't know whether or not it is a good idea.

By the way, I was very surprised that there also exists a communist party in the US. I didn't know that.

Communist Still Alive?

There is still a communist party in Japan, the Japan Communist Party(JCP). Although there are now very few communist societies in the world and the most of them have failed, JCP is trying to pursue the realization of communist society in Japan. Certainly it is a small party, but is still alive. Why not?

Here's what they say:

For a Socialist/Communist Society
(15) In the next stage of Japan's social development, the task is to overcome capitalism and carry out socialist transformation and advance to a socialist/communist society. In the hitherto seen world, there has been no real socialist transformation taking place on the basis of the advanced economic and social achievements of the capitalist era. Working in a developed capitalist country to advance toward socialism/communism is a new historic task in the 21st century.

The key element of socialist transformation is socialization of the means of production, which transfers possession, control and management of the main means of production to society. Socialization only concerns the means of production; as far as the means of living is concerned, the right to private property will be protected throughout all stages of social development.

(17) A quest for socialism/communism is not exclusive to Japan.
The 21st century world will be an era characterized by an increase in currents toward overcoming capitalism and advancing to a new society. It arises from the sharpening economic and political contradictions and from popular movements in the developed capitalist countries; it arises from efforts to explore their peculiar ways to socialism in countries that broke away from capitalism; and it arises from the popular movements in many countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America that are unable to find their way for future economic development within the framework of capitalism, even after achieving political independence.

I want you to note the following statement:

The key element of socialist transformation is socialization of the means of production, Socialization only concerns the means of production; as far as the means of living is concerned, the right to private property will be protected throughout all stages of social development.

To have you consider the above statement, I'll take the following example:
You have a lovely car. You can enjoy driving with your friend by this car. Is it the mean of production? No, it is clearly the mean of living.

One day you are asked to use your lovely car to sell the products that your company produced. Is it the mean of production? Yes, it is a good contribution to your sale and profit and thus your company's production activity.

Here's the question: How can we distinguish the mean of production from the mean of living in driving your car? If you support JCP, I think you should answer the question clearly enough to make me understand.

I think it is impossible to answer the question. Because a private property cannot be socialized, or cannot be possessed by somebody other than its possessor; If your private property could be possessed by somebody other than you without your permission, it would not be yours, that is, it would not be called private property but public property.

Private property is excludable and rival in terms of economics and an executable and rival good can be defined a private property. In contrast, public property is nonexcludabe and nonrival. More roughly, your goods is yours. Everybody's goods is nobody's goods.

Socialization of any property has a critical problem. You can know it by seeing the books in your public library. In many books you can read in the library, some pages are underlined by pen, broken and messed so that you can't read. Why don't we use carefully the books in the library? Because they are nobody's books. If they were yours, you would read much more carefully and keep them clean.

If we want the books to be read more carefully, I will suggest the library take admission fee from the users. By taking the fee, the liblary can make the books partially excludable from careless readers. (What else do you think we should do to keep the books clean?)

Socialization of any goods and property is no better than robbing them of theirs. JCP can be said to have basically a critical contradiction. Although many people have been lured by communist ideology during the long span of the 20th century, nobody has been happy in a communist society even though many people in a capitalist society that permits private property are also unhappy.

A Keynesian-Long-Legs!?

There seem to be the people who can sprinkle money over the cities in Japan. What do they do such a thing for? If they want to pull up the stagnant Japanese economy by doing it, may they have to be called "a Keynesian-Long-Legs"? (The people called "the Keynesian" advocate an active fiscal and monetary expansion for alleviating economic stagnation.)

For them it seems to be necessary to have no money, or just they might need not so much money. The reason is unclear, but we can find that there are some people who can think money worthless, and others who cannot.

200,000 yen left in toilets at government halls as donations for studies

SAITAMA -- Twenty 10,000-yen(Taro's note: worthing about US$80 per 10,000-yen) notes, each coupled with a handwritten letter and wrapped in paper, have been left in Saitama prefectural and municipal government halls, police said on Tuesday.

...Each wrapping contained a 10,000-yen note and a mysterious letter, which read that the money should be spent on studying and training.
Similar wrappings, each containing a 10,000-yen note and a letter, were found in the halls of the Kawaguchi Municipal Government in Saitama Prefecture, and the Akita prefectural and municipal governments between July 3 and 5, police said. (Mainichi)
Click here for the original Japanese story July 10, 2007

The Yomiuri Shimbun(July 12, 2007)
Dozens of people in 16 more prefectures who used public restrooms since April have come out flushed with cash after finding an envelope or packet containing a 10,000 yen bill and a letter, The Yomiuri Shimbun learned Wednesday.

It was reported Tuesday that similar packets had been found earlier this month in government offices in Akita and Saitama prefectures. Wednesday's findings show the 10,000 yen bills have been found in Tokyo and 17 prefectures, all told.

A total of 4.17 million yen has been found so far in 46 locations in Tokyo and the prefectures, including Hokkaido, Aomori, Miyagi, Niigata, Chiba, Shizuoka, Osaka, Nara, Hyogo, Oita, Nagasaki, Miyazaki, Kumamoto, Kagoshima and Okinawa.
The monetary gifts were enclosed in an envelope or packet bearing the phrase "hosha hitori ippu" (token of gratitude, a gift of money for each one) with a hand-written note on washi paper addressed to the "Dear visitor who came today." The notes, which appeared to have been written with a calligraphy brush, ask the finder "to use the enclosed bequest of 10,000 yen as a fund for your training."

The generous benefactor has left the money in restrooms of government offices and large facilities, where it was discovered by government officials or visitors.
The mysterious envelopes were first found at the Sendai city hall on April 9, when six packets containing a 10,000 yen bill and a letter were placed in the men's restroom on the first floor. On May 18, 10 packets were discovered in the men's restrooms on the first floor of the Niigata prefectural and the city government offices. An identical find was made in the men's restroom on the first floor of the Sapporo city hall on May 30. If no one claims the money, it will be given to the person who reported it to police six months and 14 days after the report was filed. "Judging from the content of the letters, an old person may have done this on his or her own," nonfiction writer Shinichi Sano said.

保守と思索

日本の政治、または政治家とは如何にあるべきか、について考えたい。（参院選が近いので・・・・。）

読売新聞（2007.7.7）の橋本五郎氏のエッセイ（「五郎ワールド」）を読んで、今後の日本政治へのあるべき指針についてちょっとした示唆を見た気がした。

先日なくなった宮沢氏についてのエッセイであるが、五郎氏は宮沢氏が「思慮の人」であったからこそ、９０年代初頭の首相のときに、「時代の要請」に答えられなかったと指摘している。

宮沢氏は、リーダーとは「白馬にまたがって『俺について来い』というものではなく、大型タンカーの船長のように、目に見えなくても仕事をしているというのが指導者だ」、という持論を持っていたそうである。その宮沢氏の政治スタイルが、90年代初頭の「政治改革」が叫ばれた時代、つまり「白馬」が求められた時代において行き詰まりを見せたと、五郎氏は指摘している。

いつの時代においても、民衆はわかりやすい小泉純一郎的な「白馬に乗った騎士」のようなリーダーを求めがちである。

しかし、現代の成熟した日本においては、むしろ宮沢喜一的な「大型タンカーの船長」のような目に見えない思慮のリーダーが求められるのではないか、という気がしてならない。

政治が我々の生活を日々改善するという（今日より明日がいい、という意味での）近代的な進歩史観、政治哲学により今日の政治を主導することは、民衆の価値観が多様化した今日において画餅であるような気がする。ある人にとって良い政策が、別の人にとっては良くない政策かもしれないからである。

「民主主義とは、『私はあなたの意見に反対である。しかし、あなたがそれを言う権利は死んでも守る』ということではないか」という見識、「保守とは主義ではない、生活態度であり、・・・どの程度の改善が全体のバランスを崩さずに可能かということを、立ち止まって計算する態度が保守である」（『社会党との対話』）という持論から、宮沢氏の思慮の一端が垣間見える。　これこそが、成熟社会日本の政治において求められ、このような落ち着いた「大人の見識」こそが政治の主柱としてあるべきだろうと思う。

しかしながら、五郎氏は、このような政治スタイルは高度成長期であれば歓迎されるが、政治改革の季節には不向きだったと指摘している。そして、五郎氏は文末にリチャード・ニクソン（元米大統領）氏の言葉を引用し、政治の世界における政治家、為政者の理想像を見ている。

「政治の世界では、思索の人は行動ができず、行動の人は思索をしないという例があまりにも多かった。理想的なのはウィルソン（元米大統領）のように偉大な創造的思索家であるとともに、断固たる行動の人であることだろう。哲学者ベルグソンは『思索の人として行動し、行動の人として思索せよ』という言葉がある。」（『指導者とは』）

しかしながら、これは少し欲張りである気がする。「二律背反」という言葉がある。一方を立てれば、他方は立たない。または、二兎追うものは一兎をも得ず、である。

行動家は行動に重きを置くがゆえに思索を軽んじ、思索家は思索を重んずるがあまり行動を捨象する。これこそが世の常ではないのだろうか。成熟した現代日本において大切なのは、むしろ時代を見据える思索である。「改革」という言葉は、常に民衆の心に訴えかける現実的な「行動」のともなった、情念に漲る爽やかな期待ではあるが、同時に民衆を空騒ぎさせ、日本の行く末を惑わすデマゴーグになりうる。

（主に『郵政改革』を標榜した「小泉改革」は、郵貯・郵便・保険の郵政3事業の民営化を成し遂げた偉業に見えるが、これが日本の生活を大きく変えたか?　結局これで喜んだのが、郵貯という競合がいなくなった銀行屋でないのか？　銀行は合併を繰り返し、寡占化を推し進め、業界の協調行動により巨額の利益を手中に収めている。そして、法人税の支払いを免除されている。これこそメスを入れるべき対象のような気がするが、これは「改革」ではないみたいである。確かに、郵便局は利用しやすくなったかもしれないし、棚から牡丹餅的な役人風情を正す機運は全く以って庶民感情からすると爽快ではあったかもしれない。しかし、私たちの生活の利便性はどこまで上がったのか?　この改革の意義を説明できる輩は少ないのではないか?　わかるように説明せよ!!　私は郵政の味方をするつもりは全くないが・・・、「郵政改革」も結局デマゴーグに過ぎたのではないか?）

今求められるのは、「改革」ではなく、今日の日本の豊かさを維持するための「行動」であり、それを支える「思索」である。「変化」ではなく「安定」なのではないか。　そのための「思索ある行動」こそが大人の政治ではないか。政治の世界でいう「変化」が、よく選挙前に発せられるとおり、私たちにとっての「よい変化」ではなく、政治家とその取り巻きにとっての「よい変化」のように見える。ならば、「変化」よりも今を維持する「努力」、「安定」を守る「施策」こそ、国民にとって現実的ではないのか。「豊かな安定」を追求する志こそが今求められる「保守」の姿ではないのだろうか。

Higher Consumption Tax

Mr. Abe seems to be thinking of raising the rate of consumption tax after the coming election.

What do you think is the effect of higher consumption tax on the economy? In our conjecture it will reduce the consumption spending. If so, Mr. Abe should think about its negative effect on the consumer behavior when a hike of consumption tax is in effect.

However, in economic theory consumption tax won't reduce the consumption. A little more advanced economic model, say, the Ramsey model indicates that consumption tax will leave the consumption unchanged. You may say that it's a strange implication, but if consumers were rational and able to foresee the higher rate of the tax in the future, they would make an optimum consumption plan in consideration of it and wouldn't change their consumption spending.

In my sight higher consumption tax will probably reduce the consumption spending because many consumers are not so rational that they can expect a rise in the tax exactly, as Ramsey model says.

Abe hints government will consider raising consumption tax after election

...."The tax system must be fundamentally reformed this coming autumn. I've never said we'll not raise the consumption tax," Abe said in a Nippon Television (NTV) program Thursday night.

Abe also said the spending of taxpayers' money should be thoroughly reduced before raising the 5 percent indirect tax levied on virtually all goods and services. "If we determine the percentage of the tax hike during tax reform discussions, (the government's fiscal discipline) could be loosened." Chief Cabinet Secretary Yasuhisa Shiozaki denied that the government will bring up a consumption tax hike as a policy issue during the campaign for the July 29 election.

(Mainichi)
Click here for the original Japanese story
July 6, 2007

Are Women Quiet?

Since I was born I have felt that women are more talkative than men. I used to be said by girls that I was a silent boy. And I've thought that I am less talkative. But it seems to be a groundless sight. The following two researches are interesting to hear. The first analysis researches the total number of words that men and women utter:


Stereotypes of Quiet Men, Chatty Women Not Sound Science

By David Brown
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, July 6, 2007; Page A02

Across time and culture, the female predilection for chattiness and the male penchant for taciturnity have approached the status of unarguable facts. Now, two studies appear to bury these age-old stereotypes.

...."Wherever this really persistent stereotype comes from, we do not find evidence to support it," said Matthias R. Mehl, a psychologist at the University of Arizona.

Women spoke an average of 16,215 words and men 15,669 words during an average of 17 waking hours a day. The difference -- just under 550 words -- was not statistically significant.

…What was striking, Mehl said, was the great range of word use. The most was 47,000 words in a day; the least was 700. Because the talkers were all college students on roughly similar schedules, their word use may not be the same as that of people in other age groups. But the consistency of the results suggests that there is no innate difference in verbosity between the sexes -- at any age.


The second analysis found that men didn't talk more than women for total number of words (as in the Mehl study) but for other measures of garrulousness, such as total number of statements, duration of speaking and "mean utterance length."

…an analysis of 63 studies of gender differences in talkativeness, found that men actually yakked slightly more than women, especially when interacting with spouses or strangers, and when the topic of conversation was non-personal.
Although, overall, "the magnitude of the difference was negligible," said Campbell Leaper, a psychologist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, the findings suggest that " some men may be using talkativeness to dominate the conversation."

The situations in which men talked more than women were conversations between spouses or partners; conversations that included people of both sexes and when researchers were present; and situations in which the topic involved disagreement or was of a non-personal nature.

The situations in which women talked more than men were those among classmates, and between parents and children; those when the activity was child-oriented; and those when the topic of conversation required disclosure of feelings.

"This underscores how many gender differences can be situation-specific," Leaper said. However, an analysis of 73 studies of children's conversation found the opposite result -- girls are more talkative than boys.

Girls were especially more talkative than boys when interacting with adults. They also talked more during activities of their own choosing. That may reflect a preference for games such as playing house, which requires more communication, rather than construction projects and sports, which boys tend to prefer, Leaper said. Assigned to the same task, boys and girls are equally talkative.

What is interesting in the second research says that girls are more talkative than boys. Oh, now I know why I was so often said to be silent by girls and I thought girls verbose in my childhood. I was just less silent than girls around me.

If you were a girl or a woman, I would like you not to feel worse about my thought; I do not want to say that girls should be more quiet. I am just surprised at the above these two researches.... However I wonder how useful these findings are such as in the public policy. I don't know how I use these findings to make our society better. But I feel that these are worth paying good attention to.